Recommended Posts

Like several others on this forum, I got started lifting doing Stronglifts. You have to start somewhere and for better or worse that's where it was for me. And I really bought into it--spent all my time on the forums, read every article, wrote a recommendation for the ebook, etc. etc. And I feel like I owe something to Stronglifts since I certainly wouldn't be where I'm at today (with respect to lifting) without it. However, I can't speak for everyone, but I know I picked up some bad habits there in the beginnings of my lifting career. One of which was ebooks.

I have ebooks, usually bought for between $20-40. I have ebooks I've never read. I have ebooks with some useful information. I have ebooks sold in physical form with professional looking covers and binding. I have binders full of ebooks!

Whats wrong with ebooks? Well, last night my wife and I attended a Pampered Chef party disguised as a 'make some salads-in-a-jar' party. My options were to stay home with the kids, or attend and get to take home a few salads to eat later. There's always room for more veggies in my diet, so I figured I'd give it a shot. We were joined there by three gals whom we'd never met before, and from the conversation, sounded like they had little to no cooking experience. In order to prepare the ingredients for these salads we were given an array of task-specific devices, all of which would make salad creation easy enough that anyone could do it! And these girls just ate it up. Meanwhile, I'm thinking just give me a knife and a cutting board and I can do this in less time and with 90% less dishes to wash afterwards. But for those with no experience, a $20-40 tool might seem like the key to making cooking delicious foods something that can be achieved. I feel that most ebooks offer the same false hope.

BUT! You have to start somewhere right? And for a beginner, SL 5x5 V9.03 ebook will help, but like an avocado slicer, maybe there's a better option (a chef's knife). As in cooking, you become a better lifter through practice. It's the guiding tools along the way that make sure you are practicing the right things, learning useful skills, and not handicapping yourself in the long term.

So what's the solution? Read a mother fucking book! Like a real hardcover 383 page book. The best part is, it's the same price as an ebook, just vastly superior as a source of information. Gross consumption is not the path to mastery. My piles of ebooks, virtual and physical, are not worth what I paid for them. Remember school? That place where the whole point was to learn things? Books, instruction, practice. Clif Notes might get you a good grade, but they did not help you understand.

I think part of the problem is being introduced to a subject online. It was only natural for me to continue seeking information online since that's where I started. Nowadays when nearly anything you could want to know is just a click away, it's easy to forget how to go deeper than that first layer of knowledge. The world of blogs, online articles, and ebooks will get anyone started on nearly any topic, but for true mastery I feel that a more academic approach is necessary.

Are there any other book readers out there? What are your recommendations? I have three right off the bat that I have read and would recommend to others:

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Somehow I missed this topic when you originally started it, but I just saw it referenced in your log.

I've bought my share of fitness e-books over the years (perhaps not as many as you, from the sound of it ). Some of them have been helpful and still live in binders on my book shelf (such as the 5/3/1 guide), but others are basically useless (such as David Dellanave's "Off the Floor" deadlift e-guide that touts biofeedback and these weird-ass Jefferson deadlifts that could potentially castrate you) and have long since been recycled. Still, I don't consider it wasted money because those e-books motivated me (and maybe gave me a few nuggets of good information). It's all part of the process, as you point out.

As for "real" books, I agree with you about Starting Strength. It's a classic (the strength training equivalent of Joy of Cooking, I'd say), and I still refer to it. I'm pretty sure that Rippetoe's Practical Programming for Strength Training also falls into that category, but I haven't read it yet (even though it's sitting on my shelf . . . ). I have a few other "real" strength training books (New Rules of Lifting for Women and Convict Conditioning come to mind), but I don't consider them to be classics. I should probably offload them, in fact. I haven't read Easy Strength, but I know it comes very highly recommended.

As for cookbooks, I like all the Cook's Illustrated stuff (don't have the meat one, though---I'll have to check that out). Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything books are also great.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I've bought my share of fitness e-books over the years (perhaps not as many as you, from the sound of it ). Some of them have been helpful and still live in binders on my book shelf (such as the 5/3/1 guide), but others are basically useless (such as David Dellanave's "Off the Floor" deadlift e-guide that touts biofeedback and these weird-ass Jefferson deadlifts that could potentially castrate you) and have long since been recycled. Still, I don't consider it wasted money because those e-books motivated me (and maybe gave me a few nuggets of good information). It's all part of the process, as you point out.

I may have exaggerated the number of ebooks slightly just for effect . I don't think of them as a total waste of money either, but definitely not the best use/value for the money. Those Jefferson deadlifts tho...

As for "real" books, I agree with you about Starting Strength. It's a classic (the strength training equivalent of Joy of Cooking, I'd say), and I still refer to it. I'm pretty sure that Rippetoe's Practical Programming for Strength Training also falls into that category, but I haven't read it yet (even though it's sitting on my shelf . . . ). I have a few other "real" strength training books (New Rules of Lifting for Women and Convict Conditioning come to mind), but I don't consider them to be classics. I should probably offload them, in fact. I haven't read Easy Strength, but I know it comes very highly recommended.

Funny I talked about having ebooks I've never read, while I also have plenty of real books I've never read too. What do you think about New Rules of Lifting for Women? My wife has been talking a lot lately about wanting to get in shape, but her scoliosis prevents her from doing a barbell oriented program. Does the book cover kettlebells or other things that don't require supporting a weight across the shoulders or lying down?

As for cookbooks, I like all the Cook's Illustrated stuff (don't have the meat one, though---I'll have to check that out). Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything books are also great.

I am in love with the Meat Book . I also have their Cook's Country and Best Recipe cookbooks. Between the three of them I can usually find what I'm looking for and always been happy with the result. Although for some recipes it takes a couple tries to get it just right.

Sounds like the Bittman books offer a bit more guidance than the Cooks Illustrated books, would you agree?

if she can't do bilateral benching either one arm floor press or one arm bench (I like KBs for floor press, more chesticle that way)

Absolutely. However, my manly intuition tells me that she'd be much more likely to do such a program if she read about it in a book rather than just hearing it from me. Any pressing will most likely have to be done overhead since her back is uneven.

being a book by Pavel, there's a lot of 'evil russian' schtick, but the program seems good, so long as you don't tend to forget where you are in a ladder (Art of Strength makes a workbook for it that helps)